Posted on 12/22/2009 1:47:42 PM PST by AJKauf
A truly sad story about a 23-year-old Panama City man dying while being subdued by Bay County sheriff’s deputies has reawakened the debate about the legalization of marijuana. On December 11, 2009, Andrew Grande choked on a plastic bag full of marijuana as police attempted to arrest him on a violence charge. A video shows police valiantly trying to save his life once it became apparent that he was having difficulty breathing.
Two talk show hosts in Panama City have been discussing the case in the early morning hours — and revealing a divide on the right. Burnie Thompson of WYOO, the libertarian, has called Grande “a casualty of the war on drugs” and contended that because marijuana is illegal, Grande felt “compelled” to swallow a bag of it to avoid punishment.
Nonsense, says Doc Washburn on station WFLF. He invited former Congressman Ernest Istook from the Heritage Foundation and Tina Trent, who blogs on crime, to speak about the dangers of marijuana to the user and to society. Trent indicated that Grande had faced probably only a misdemeanor charge; she pointed to studies showing that the illegal drug trade flourishes despite the legality of marijuana in certain states and other countries. And legalizing marijuana will remove the freedom employers now have to test for the judgment-impairing drug.
The position on the legalization of marijuana provides the point of departure from the traditional libertarianism of Barry Goldwater. In abandoning the duty to enforce social order, today’s libertarians have made a devil’s pact with the pro-drug forces of George Soros and company.
(Excerpt) Read more at pajamasmedia.com ...
This should be a fun thread. All the Anti-Nanny State conservatives will rise to tell us how the State should be the Nanny in the case of drugs.
maybe not. kind of quiet so far.
I'm CERTAIN that's the silliest argument I've ever read from a so-called smart and educated person.
There are millions of conservatives that smoke pot and they all just got smeared by an idiot.
One idiot chokes to death because he eats a baggie of weed and we should rethink our whole drug legalization stance because of it? The only thing sad here is the logic in that article.
We’ve got a “throw the book at ‘em” mentality when it come to drunk driving (0.08 and less, no accidents) yet when a judge offers to “help” a suspect in exchange for sexual favors, the judge isn’t disbarred or fired or sentenced the same as a drunk driver (time, fines, community service).
PS, the judge has just made a case for those seeking appeals that there is a difference in the quality of court appointed legal representation and they exert some influence over who gets which lawyer...
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/breaking/6781092.html
Judge sentenced to 30 days in official oppression case
By RENEE C. LEE
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Dec. 21, 2009, 11:11PM
Harris County Criminal Court-at-law Judge Donald Jackson on Monday was sentenced to 30 days in jail and two years’ probation following his conviction on a charge of official oppression for allegedly trying to strike up a relationship with a drunken driving defendant in his court.
Jackson, who was found guilty of the misdemeanor by a jury last Friday, also was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service, pay a $4,000 fine and take 25 hours of state-approved legal ethics courses for each of the next two years by state District Judge Mark Kent Ellis.
Ellis, who admonished Jackson, 60, for his actions, also ruled Jackson must leave the bench, pending appeal.
“You demean what it means to be a judge,” Ellis told Jackson. “We are all tarnished by your stupidity.”
...The oppression charge stemmed from the DWI case of Ariana Venegas, 28, who accused Jackson of offering her a better court-appointed lawyer if she took up his offer of a romantic relationship that was “more than a one-night stand.” She testified last week that Jackson told her that if she was not interested in a relationship with him, she would be convicted because he was the judge on her case.
...Jackson, who was suspended with pay by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct after he was indicted in August, has an annual salary of $140,000.
...He was released from the Harris County Jail after posting $5,000 bail late Monday.
I look at the WODs as just another way to control people’s lives and we as taxpayers are footing the bill.
IIRC, there are over 1.5 million non-violent drug offenders in our prison systems.
AAMOF, about 750 per 100,000 people in this country are in jail. We lead the world.
Uhhh, YES! It's routine in manufacturing and retail.
Vices have been criminalized since the founding of the nation.
How about “Libertarians need to rethink their support for plastic bags”
Mel
Exactly!!
If employers are allowed to have a no alcohol policy, why couldn't they have a no pot policy if pot was legal?
I don't understand the argument in this article that employers couldn't test for pot.
Quoting Soros crap doesn’t impress me.
How many of those people are in jail for drug possesion as their sole charge?
And embrace the New Deal Commerce Clause.
Think everyone is missing the point:
Darwin Award Winner!
Of course it is, and alcohol is legal. So why couldn't an employer test for pot if it were legal?
This article makes no sense - author must have caught a buzz before writing it!
When plastic baggies are outlawed, only outlaws will have plastic baggies.
“Another commerce clause rationalization, no doubt.”
No diggity! Either that or the “necessary and proper” clause.
Viagra is a recreational drug too........
Now go ahead, tell me that if drugs were legalized, there would be no need for drug crime. I love when I hear that.
“Legalize it, tax it and control it”
Why must we, too, add the tax part? I mean, I know why radical individual-type libs do it. But why do we act as if expected tax revenue is a justification? I’d rather we tax less things, thanks.
“Like anonymous males having sex in public restrooms?”
No. The sex may be a vice, but the crime is not the sex. The crime is the public lewdness. Lewdness in public is not a vice.
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